v-ernaz



(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

A. VERNAZ. MUSIGAL INSTRUMENT.

Patented Feb. 2, 1897.

[munch/n 1250603 [Ml 1M yfiwwwy UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ALEXIS vEENAZ, on STE. oEoIX, SWITZERLAND, ASSIGNOR TO MERMOD FEEEES, orSAME PLACE.

MUSICAL INSTRUMENT.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 576,293, dated February2, 1897.

Application filed September 26, 1896. Serial No. 607,106. (No modelfi Toall whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ALEXIS VERNAZ, a citizen of the Republic of France,and a resident of Ste. Groix, Canton of Vaud, Switzerland, have inventedcertain new and useful Improvements in Musical Instruments, of which thefollowing is an exact specification.

This invention refers to musical instruments of the kind in whichtongues are operated from a perforated note-plate by the mediation ofsprocket-wheels. My improve ments in musical instruments of said kindrelate to means for damping the tongues after they have been operated bythe respective sprocket-wheels.

My improvements consist in the construction, arrangement, andcombination of parts, as hereinafter fully described, illustrated in theaccompanying drawings, and pointed out in the appended claim.

In order to make my invention more clear, I refer to the accompanyingdrawings, in which similar letters denote similar .parts throughout thedifferent views, and in which- Figure 1 is a side view of my improvedarrangement, the plates a a being in section. Fig. 2 is a view similarto Fig. 1, but the sprocket-wheel, the tongue, and the dampingspringbeing each in another position. Fig. 3 is a front view of a portion ofthe tongue, together with two portions r 2' of the damping-spring. Fig.a is a view similar to Fig. 3, but said portions r 2' being in anotherposition. Fig. 5 is a plan of a portion of the damping-sprin Fig. 6shows a modified form of construction, the damping-spring being made toact upon two tongues.

Referring to Figs. 1 and 2, a a are two superposed plates, between whichare held as many springs o as there are tongues 0 in the musicalinstrumentin question. Each of said springs supports a sprocket-wheel2'. n is the perforated note-plate, which is held down upon the plate aby any suitable means. In consequence of the note-plate being thus keptdepressed the sprocket-wheels are also kept depressed, and the springs oare thus put under tension. This, however, is the case only as long asthere is a non-perforated portion of the note-plate over thesprocket-wheel. The latter is allowed to rise into the position shown inFigs. 1 and 2 when a perforation of the note-plate arrives over thesprocketwheel, or, more precisely, over the next tooth of the same.Suppose the note-plate n to move in the direction indicated by the arrowand the perforation n to have arrived over the tooth z" of thesprocket-wheel 1'. Then said tooth will be pressed into said perforationby the spring 0, which had been under tension up to that time. From thatmoment the sprocket-wheel i is rotated by the note-plate 71, Figs. 1 and2.

The tongue to be operated by the sprocketwheel, or, in the case assumed,by the tooth i of the sprocket-wheel, is shaped in a particular manner,in that its free end or top is first reduced in breadth at 0 Figs. 3 and4, and is then formed into a sort of wedge 0'. Said reduced portion 0takes through a slot r of the dampin g-sprin g r, Fig. 5, the free endof which takes below the sprocket-wheel 1 in such a manner that saiddamping-spring may be operated by said wheel.

The end portion proper, '7", of the dampingspring is connected with themain portion 1 by two ledge-like portions r riwhich are bent upward insuch a manner that they are able to catch or hold the wedge o of thetongue 0, as shown in Fig. 3. The position shown in Fig. 3 correspondsto the position shown in Fig. 1, and the position shown in Fig. 4corresponds to that shown in Fig. 2.

Shortly after the sprocket-wheel has commenced turning under theinfluence of the moving note-plate the damping-spring a" is depressed bythe tooth 2' of said wheel acting upon the end portion r of said spring.The tongue 0 thus being freed is now operated-4. e., strained-by thetooth 1' The latter leaves the tongue in about the same moment in whichthe tooth i of the sprocketwheel, as well as the end portion 4 of thedamping-spring, arrives in the lowest position, and the tongue'is nowperfectly free to sound. The end portion r of the dampingspring is inits lowest position when the sprocket-wheel has again been depressed bya non-perforated portion of the disk 12. The

tongue remains thus free of the dampingspring during the whole of thattime and is checked only when the sprocket-wheel is allowed to rise by aperforation of the disk n arriving over the next tooth of the wheel.

In instruments in whieh there are two sets of tongues eachdamping-spring may well be employed for acting uponi. e. ,for dampingtwo tongues. In such a case the end portion "1" of the damping-spring isprovided with an elongation r, Fig. e, that takes below the end portionof the other tongue. 0 is said other tongue. 'lhetongue o is operated bythe tooth of the sprocket-wheel in the same moment in which the tongue 0is opera-ted by the tooth '1? of the sprocket-wheel. In other words, thetooth 1" leaves the tongue 0 in the same moment in which the tooth 1?leaves the tongue 0. The tongue 0 while being depressed by the tooth.depresses in its turn the elongation ot the damping-spring r, or more1n-eeisely the whole of this spring and the tongue 0, or, moreprecisely, the wedge-like head 0, Figs. .3 and 4c, of the same is thusfreed from the side portions 9' r Figs. 5} and it, of said spring 2'.The latter is kept depressed by the tooth 1"" of the spree-ketwheelmoving from the tongue 0 1113011 the end portion r of thedamping-spring, and the two tongues are thus Jfreo to sound aslongas thedainping-spring is thus kept depressed.

Having now particularly described the nature of n'iyinvention, what Idesire to seeure by Letters Patent of the United States is- In a musicalinstrument having tongues, sproeket'wheels for operating said tongues,and a perforated note plate or plates i'or operating saidsprocket-wheels, the combination with the said tongues, of dampingsprin'r r haYingbent-olt' portions We, and. a slot r between said portions;the tongues taking through said slots, and having (Pitt'll a broadenedportion 0 adapted to be caught up between and by said bent-oilf portions1'; said dainping-springs being arranged so as to be adapted to beoperated by the said sproeket-wheeis, for the nu-pose as described.

In testimony whereof I have signed this specification in the presenee oftwo subserilr i'ng witnesses.

ALEXIS YFIi-INAZ.

\Vi tnesses:

BENJAMIN .11. R1 mm m, IE. it. BARRY.

